


Servant of Katolis

by yfere



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, M/M, Speculation, maybe a bit darker of an au, we'll see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 13:14:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15995957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yfere/pseuds/yfere
Summary: Viren knows his place better than anyone.





	Servant of Katolis

_A servant of the kingdom of Katolis,_ Harrow said, sneering, and Viren didn’t kneel so much as fall, the ground vanished from underneath him.

_I thought we were—_

_After everything—_

_I was willing to—_

_A servant of the kingdom of Katolis._

And that brought it all into focus, didn’t it? Harrow— _His Highness_ , Viren reminded himself—always had a talent for honing in on the essential facts, what really mattered. Decisiveness. Not like Viren, whose mind would wander, who would get muddled in confusions and obsessions. Feelings. Yes, this was exactly what he needed. _A servant of the kingdom of Katolis._ A statement to clear the mind.

The bird, Pip, wore a feathered twin of His Highness’ sneer. Amazing how similar pets could be to their owners. Out of the corner of his eye, Viren saw His Highness’ face twist as he knelt, as if more disgusted by his obeisance than his familiarity. No matter. He was right, after all.

What Viren came here to do was idiocy. His Highness didn’t need to die, and neither did Viren.

The basket with the soulfang was still by his hand.

Viren smiled at the ground. “I see the problem now,” he said. “It’s that you believe you are the kingdom.”

He already knew the incantation. He flipped the basket open.

…

It wasn’t hard to recover the bird, after. It was found hopping in dazed circles around His Highness’s body, as if in its grief, it had forgotten how to fly. But then, there’s a kind of madness that comes with grief. Viren could see it brewing in the streets, with the announcement of the King’s death. He sometimes wondered how different the King would have been in these final days had Queen Sarai not died. If he might have been more willing to live.

Madness. And could he claim he wasn’t grieving, too?

Viren examined the bird’s green eye, looking for signs of—he didn’t know what. That it was listening? That it wasn’t angry? But animals were always tough to read. At least the bird had stopped beating itself against the cage.

“You have to understand,” he said. “We can’t just waste lives. The King is needed—but I’m needed too. Without either one, the kingdom grows weaker. At the very least, we need to protect our own lives, for the kingdom’s sake. I am, after all, a servant of Katolis.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, new fandom! Please let me know what you think!


End file.
